It Was Meant To Be A Joke
by Pleasenotausername
Summary: Soulmate Au. It all started naturally as a joke. He posted his soul mark, a small pair of antlers on his hip, on Facebook. What he did not expect was a response, or for his soulmate to want nothing to do with him.


It all started naturally as a joke. He posted his soul mark, a small pair of antlers on his hip, on Facebook. A caption reading _I can't wait to meet you my deer/dear_ above the picture. It was supposed to be funny, maybe just maybe get his soulmates attention.

What he did not expect was for someone with the user Lil_Evans to respond with a matching picture, a small pair of antlers on a very pale hip, and the caption _No thanks, I'd rather go stag_.

His immediate reaction he can't remember, Sirius said he looked brain dead for a moment. But he remembers the minutes after. He remembers spamming Lil_Evans on messenger, commenting comment after comment on her response. And in a totally non creepy way looking through all her Facebook posts since her page was created, or at least he tells Sirius it's not creepy.

And truly he thinks it isn't, she is his soulmate after all. But then she doesn't respond to one of his messages and he grows a little more desperate by the day.

Because what started as a joke quickly turned into him finding his soulmate.

XXX

She responds to his post because she protests the whole soulmate thing… and well because that cheesy a caption was asking for it. The whole soulmate concept just rubs her the wrong way. The idea that the universe knows what's best for her. The idea that she has no choice in who she falls in love with.

She sees his post because it has been shared so many times, honestly a day or two from becoming what Marlene would consider viral. Her mind blanks for a moment and before she knows it she was fishing her phone out of her pocket was pulling a section of her leggings down just enough to show her hip and had taken a picture of her matching mark. She finally snaps out of her shocked superior in time to think about what she was about to do. But she finally decides this way he knows who she is, and maybe that will be enough for him.

But then he heart reacts her comment, replies and replies, then takes things into a less public area by private messaging her… over and over again.

She's feels bad for not responding. But a soulmate was never in her plan, she has always said she wants to fall in love on her own terms.

This really shows how wrong the whole soulmate thing is, how wrong the universe can be. Because while she has no interest in meeting her soulmate, J_Potter seems to think they have two. Her guilt grows with each unanswered message, but her resolve stands.

XXX

Weeks pass and he has entered this weird little world, where he knows his soulmate but can't meet her. Where she is constantly on his mind, but he doesn't want her to be. Not because he doesn't want to meet her and fall madly in love, but because she clearly doesn't. And his heart aches thinking about how his soulmate could be one of those people who want nothing to do with their pair. His heart aches because he will clearly need to find someone else, someone less suited to him, someone who will love him less and who he will love less then someone else, someone who will make him less happy than what he could be.

So he slowly stops messaging her. He changes his posts settings so people stop sharing it, but he can't bring himself to delete it. Can't bring him to delete the moment he first found out about her. But he slowly tries to forget, he flirts a little more with the coffee girl, starts ignoring Remus' pitying looks, and tries to forget it.

He stands in line at his favourite coffee house, the baristas cheeks are a pretty pink from his compliments, looking down at his phone while he is waiting he is suddenly ran into. From his position on the floor he looks up into the face he spent weeks memorizing from her Facebook pictures, a face he was sure he would never see in person.

He runs into his soulmate.

XXX

Weeks later his messages slowly start tapering off. She gets a few less comments and a few less messages by the day until soon there are none at all. She feels guilty that he went through that, but calm because it's over. Because he will never expect anything from her, and she is free to live her own life.

At least that's what she tells herself as she walks out of the coffee shop, staring at her now blank notification screen, until she runs into someone. The bloke tumbled over and his left on the floor while she flops into his chest.

Her elbow jams into his stomach, his glasses dig into her head, her hair is everywhere. Just as she is about to apologize she looks down into the face of her soulmate.

XXX

Her eyes are green and that's what he sees first, but as she slowly stands up off of him and offers a hand down to help him up he sees more of her. He sees her short frame that could be covered by his large one. He sees a mass of springing red curls that he wants to twist his fingers into. She has a surprised look on her face that he wants to kiss off. But he doesn't say any of this to her.

He needs to say something cool, something to show how laid back he is, something to make up for all his messages and to make him look less desperate.

"You never responded" his voice comes out croaky and he immediatly wants to smack himself, because that was not what he planned to say. But he saw the guilt on her pretty face as she sighed.

"Do you want to sit down and talk?" She asked it hesitently, whether it was because she was nervous about his responce or because she didn't want to do it, he did not know. Honestly he doesn't care either. They wait in silence for both their drinks to be ready and walk over to a isolated booth in the corner.

Sitting in silence they sip their drinks, and just before he can get up the nerves to break the ice, she does herself.

"I don't believe in the whole soulmate concept" she blurts out.

He feels his heart break. Not because he loves her right now, they don't even know each other. But because the person the universe paired him with, the person he is most suited to love and be loved by doesn't believe in the whole system that gives him hope.

She talks about how she wants to be independent, how she wants to travel and fall in love the natural way, how she wants to be able to pick who she spends the rest of her life with and not just blindly accpet what the universe says.

He nods through her speech, no words to describe how he is accurately feeling. He stands up and grabs his barley touched drink, wishes her goodluck, and says if she ever needs anything to message him. He doesnt say it but he thinks _because we are soulmates and I'll always help you. _

But before he can walk away she stops him and says "Can we just be friends?"

He stares at her at her, at her pretty eyes that are filled with apology and hope and her beautiful hair thats like a wild untammed mass of curls. He nods his head and sits back down, and he gets to know the women sitting across from him, not knowing she is about to become one of his best friends.

XXX

She doesn't mean to offer to be friends. But he looked so sad and crestfallen, like he had the whole world pulled out from under him. She supposes he has, he must of been expecting a soul mate who would fall into his arms, like most do. She regrets more then ever responding to his facebook post, it was meant to be a joke.

So she offers to be friends, and they sit in that little coffee shop gettint to know each other. Hours pass and the store closes, he opens the door for her as they leave the shop and he looks like he is fighting eternally with himself before he makes up his mind and says "Can I walk you home?"

She nods her head, a smile on her face and he walks her home. They exchange numbers, agree to meet up again soon, becuase she tells him that she really does want to be friends. He reaches for a hug as she hold up her hands to shake his and they stare at each other awkwardly before the retract their arms. She looks at him as he scuffs his shoes awkwardly on the floorboard outside her flat, and she whispers "I'm sorry James." And she means it.

He gives her a tense nod before saying "I'll talk to you soon" before walking away.

She closes the door to her flat and sighs.

XXX

They do talk. They text each other a couple times a day, meet up for lunch at least once a week and he has come to the conclusion that while he is sure they could be happy together, they are soulmates after all, he can live with having her as a friend.

And they are friends, months go by and he meets her flatmate Marlene and she meets his mates. They all hang out together and the awkwardness fades. She truly does become one of his best friends. They study together, eat together, watch movies together and he is happy, but he just knows they could be happier.

They could be happier and he knows this. He imagines walking her to class, romantic dinners insted of the ones they have at Mcdonalds, he imagines being with her. He wonders what it would feel like to twist her red curls around his fingers, what it would be like to kiss those lips that always look so soft, what it would be like to nuzzle into her neck. Some night he lays in bed thinking less pure thoughts. He thinks about what it would be like to peel her patterned legging of her legs, what she looks like without a bulky Uni sweater on, what she would look like laying on her back or stomach or on top of him. These thought almost always lead to a cold shower at 3 in the morning.

But he stops thinking of her as his soulmate and starts thinking of her as Lily. And honestly thats worse because he starts to like her for the person she is and not just because they share a mark. Suddenly shes not just his soulmate, she is his friend.

Which is why he respects her wishes and never tries to be anything more.

So he tries to move on, and goes on a date with a girl he met in his lab. Ella is nice, shes sweet, blonde, and fancies him. It's nothing serious but he can see himself fancying her, can see himself forgetting about Lily and growing to care for Ella.

But one day Lily shows up at his flat late at night. It's nothing out of the blue, she is almost always over. They watch movies on his couch until late into the night. He wakes up hours later, the credits have finished rolling, and somehow Lily has ended up snuggled into his side. Shes asleep with her head tucked under his chin, her body pressed up against his chest, and he can smell her perfume. He tries to get a better look at her face and accidently jostles her, waking her up. She blinks sleepily up at him her head tiliting up to look at him. They stare at each other for a moment before she curls back against him and closes her eyes, trying to go back to sleep.

He ends things with Ella the next day.

XXX

She has slowly gotten used to James in her life, and he has become one of the people she cares about most. She lets go of the feelings of regret at meeting him and embraces the friendship she has gained from it.

James who makes her laugh, will surprise her with a tea outside of her class, who made her soup and fed it to her spoonful after spoonful when she was sick. James with his wild black hair, tan skin, and is so shockingly tall and has such broad shoulders he over shadows her.

And one night when she wakes up panting because she dreamed about his hands on her skin she realizes that she might have a crush on James.

And she gets angry at herself for a moment because that was never the plan. She wouldn't let the universe control her like that. By Marlene is the one who points out how hypocritical she is being. Marlene points out how not dating James simply because they have matching soul marks is giving the universe just as much power in her life as if she dated him only for that reason. How if they had no matching marks she would date him, but because she wants to fight the universe she will not. How by denying herself this she is still letting the universe choose who she ends up with, but instead of who it is who not.

So she thinks about what it would be like to date James. Her friend James who is so affectionate with her already she can perfectly imagine what dating him would be like. And just as she thinks about this James goes on a date with a girl named Ella.

Ella who is bubbly and sweet. Who compliments Peter's burnt attempts at cooking instead of gagging with the rest of them. Ella who joined Lily and Marlene for coffee one day, and Lily had to leave early after Ella mentioned kissing James.

Then one night she goes over to James' flat to watch a movie. And over the course of it she falls asleep. She wakes up on the opposite side of the couch cuddled into James' side. His brown eyes staring at her, she remembers curling back into his side and going back to sleep.

The next day she meets up with Sirius for lunch and he tells her that James broke up with Ella.

XXX

He stays away from Lily for a few weeks after that. He needs some time, he assumes she needs some time. And it doesn't feel right to try anything with Lily so soon after breaking up with Ella.

They hang out a few weeks later but something has changed. She blushes when he holds the door open for her, when they watch movies she curls into his side immediatly insted of sitting on the opposite side of the couch. She hold him a little tighter when they hug goodbye.

Then, one day, while they are walking down the street she grabs his hand.

Nothing is quite the same after that.

Suddenley the are holding hands all the time, they are eating at those nice restaraunts he always imagined they would, he walks her to class and she picks him up from his.

Then one day they kiss. His hands are burried into her red curls and hers are gripping the back of his neck. His lips brush hers and she tastes so sweet, so he kisses her again and brings her closer. Shes warm and in his arms so he kisses her a little harder. His teeth nips at her bottom lip until to swells, and she sighs when he backs her against the door. She clutches his neck a little harder as his cradle her head. And after that day everything is rather lovely.

XXX

They lay in her bed spooning, his arms wrapped around her and her back pressed to his naked chest. His hands brush against her hip, over her soul mark, and she cant help but be greatful that she let go of her ideals and fell in love with this man.

This man who made her laugh, who spammed her account those first few weeks, and who holds her like she is his entire world. A man who challenges her, treats her, and loves her. Her soulmate that kisses her like shes his life line, that won't sleep until they are both good and satisfied. Who's hands run over her skin like she is the most prescious thing he has ever held.

He is constant in her life, but he keeps things exciting. He challenges her, but always supports her. He loves to just sit and talk with her, but loves pushing her against the bed… or wall, shower, and that one time the kitchen table.

To think that she had been so stubborn, that she thought anyone could make her nearly as happy, to think she could love someone as much as she loves him. To think it was meant to be a joke.

XXX

Authors Note: Thank for reading and please review!


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